Chapter 266: Slaughter a County Magistrate to Warn the Others

"Captain Jiang... how did you do it?"

Han Xiao gasped. He didn't expect Jiang Jinshi to be so fierce, able to slaughter the Chanyu's father right under his nose.

Jiang Jinshi briefly recounted the course of events. Although he deliberately made it sound very easy, the few of them could still guess the danger involved.

Jiang Jinshi's eyes shone, and he did not stint on his praise. "This was done very well. Then we must prepare for what's next; the Xiongnu will not give up."

"They were defeated on the front lines, Adunla was captured alive by us, and Hunxie was killed by Captain Jiang. They shouldn't make any moves for the time being, right!" Han Xiao was thoughtful.

After all, successive defeats would make the Chanyu wary of the Ming Army. He would certainly understand that the current enemy was not comparable to the previous one, and without sufficient certainty, rashly starting a war would only put the Xiongnu in a passive position.

Jiang Jinshi nodded. "That seems to be the case for now, but if I were the Chanyu, I would stabilize the internal turmoil in the rear at the first opportunity, and then find a chance to wrestle with us."

Jiang Jinshi, however, realized: "The Xiongnu revere warriors. Hunxie was killed by us; if he does nothing, this is a sign of cowardice in the eyes of other tribes. They will never allow a coward to step on their heads."

"Exactly!" Han Xiao finally understood, his eyes growing brighter. "So the Chanyu is now being roasted on a fire by us. If he doesn't fight, internal tribes will not submit to him; if he fights, he doesn't have enough understanding of us."

Huang Yan listened quietly to the discussion, always feeling that he couldn't get a word in.

"Then! The advantage is now with us!"

Jiang Jinshi smiled. If the Chanyu brought all the Xiongnu cavalry to fight him on the grasslands, he might not necessarily win, and even if he did, it would be a pyrrhic victory; the Ming Army would likely suffer significant losses.

But if it was just defending the city, Jiang Jinshi was very confident—he would kill as many Xiongnu as came.

Now it just depended on how the Chanyu chose: would he prioritize caution, or would he bring his entire army to attack the city?

Thinking of this, Jiang Jinshi instructed the few: "Huang Yan, go transport another batch of grain and grass. It will only get colder later, and if we really start fighting, transporting it will affect efficiency."

"Understood!"

"Jiang Jinshi, train the troops. The temperature is already disadvantageous to us; we cannot be slack and let the Xiongnu have an opportunity."

"Jiang Jinshi obeys!"

Jiang Jinshi turned his head to look at Han Xiao: "Han Xiao, release the news of the great victory! I want to intimidate those County Magistrates so they don't dare to act rashly."

Before Han Xiao could speak, Jiang Jinshi asked first: "Big Brother is afraid those County Magistrates will take action against Guangwu Jun?"

"Yes!" Jiang Jinshi nodded. "Wealth moves people's hearts. Now our Guangwu Jun looks like it has money and power; it's inevitable they won't be tempted."

"They dare?" Huang Yan said angrily. "Or should I go back and slaughter a County Magistrate to warn the others?!"

"No need!" Jiang Jinshi continued: "If they know the Xiongnu were defeated, they wouldn't dare to touch Guangwu Jun even if they were given a hundred guts!"

Jiang Jinshi's worry did not come out of thin air. Previously, with the Prince of Zhenbei pressing down, these County Magistrates dared not have any disloyal thoughts.

But now that the Prince of Zhenbei has fallen, they would have some different ideas in order to protect themselves.

Li Xinyue sent a letter saying she wanted to open up grain sales, selling to other counties at double the price within Guangwu Jun. This move was to help the Ming Army gain the hearts of the people.

Jiang Jinshi naturally approved of such an approach. On one hand, it could earn a lot of silver, and on the other, it could make the common people recognize the Ming Army, but doing so would definitely attract the attention of those County Magistrates.

The amount of grain in Guangwu Jun seemed to be a bit too much. As County Magistrates, they had also embezzled for some years and couldn't produce so much grain, yet Guangwu Jun's grain could actually satisfy the needs of the entire Beijiang?!

Then what choice would they make?

Especially since the Ming Army was an insurgent army; as long as they held the banner of suppressing bandits and restoring Da Qian, they wouldn't have any psychological burden to take action against the Ming Army.

Jiang Jinshi didn't want to gamble on human greed, so he simply released the news from the front lines.

If you have ideas, weigh whether you are stronger than the Xiongnu first, don't lose your wife and lose your army!

He believed this move of knocking the mountain to shake the tiger would make many people wary of the Ming Army and not dare to act rashly again.

At this moment, inside the Xiongnu Royal Court, a heated discussion was unfolding in the central Golden Tent.

The Chanyu sat in the primary seat, below him were the Left Worthy King and the Right Worthy King, and further down were the leaders of various tribes.

The Right Worthy King spoke with disdain: "That waste Adunla, actually taking so many sons to die!"

"Indeed! It truly disgraced the name of our grassland warriors!" The Left Worthy King shook his head, feeling Adunla was a disgrace.

The leaders of the various tribes under the tent all had different views, especially those whose own tribesmen had died in battle.

"According to the sons of my tribe, this so-called Ming Army just popped up out of nowhere, which is why they were caught off guard."

"Adunla was able to behead the Prince of Zhenbei, so how can he be called a waste?"

If it were usual times, they certainly wouldn't dare to speak to the Left and Right Worthy Kings like this, but their own tribesmen had died in battle; if they didn't say a word, they were afraid they wouldn't get a share of the spoils.

Without the resources of the Royal Court, many people in their tribes simply wouldn't survive this winter.

Especially since the snow this year was earlier than in previous years, which meant this winter would be even colder.

The Chanyu above had a burly build, his appearance seven parts similar to Hunxie. Regarding Adunla's defeat, he had not yet expressed his own views.

Just then, someone suddenly came to report from outside the tent!

"King! Last... last night... traces of the Da Qian army were discovered... subsequently... the old King was assassinated... already..."

"What?" A ripple finally appeared on the Chanyu's face, his angry expression fierce and hideous. "Did you catch the person?"

"No... no..."

"No?" The Chanyu stood up, walked in front of the reporter, and kicked him down fiercely. "A bunch of wastes!"

Facing this sudden news, the expressions of the various leaders in the Golden Tent were different. Some were gloating, clearly having old grudges with Hunxie, while others were worried, thinking about what changes this news would bring to the grasslands.

The Right Worthy King's eyes narrowed, as if he were pondering something, and his gaze toward the Chanyu was not as respectful as before.

Regardless of their thoughts, everyone wanted to see how the Chanyu would respond next!

This concerned the survival of each tribe; no one was willing to follow a coward. They needed a true warrior; only the fiercest person on the grasslands could become the Wolf King and lead the tribes!

The Chanyu turned around, not looking at the expressions of the various tribal leaders, and only ordered: "The Great Sacrifice is coming soon. After the Great Sacrifice, bloodbath Beijiang!"

No one had any objections to this decision for the time being. In their view, the Great Sacrifice was the most important thing every year. As for whether the Chanyu would really dare to take action against this so-called Ming Army after the Great Sacrifice, they didn't know yet. ===== CHAPTER 267 =====